Political songs - a small personal selection

I thought I'd use the stir created by Plan B's magnificent new single (and video) as an excuse to collate some of my favourite political music. Below is my list of 10 songs which demonstrate that music and politics can go together, concluding with Plan B.

Some are fairly overtly political, some more obliquely so - but I think the 'political' tag is accurate in all cases. This doesn't mean they are all protest songs, an overlapping but distinct category. Dorian Lynskey's superb book on protest songs - 33 Revolutions Per Minute - has chapters on a number of my choices and is well worth reading.

Jimmy Cliff, Vietnam/Afghanistan

Country Joe and the Fish, Feel Like I'm Fixing to Die

PJ Harvey, The Words That Maketh Murder

Billie Holliday, Strange Fruit

Lowkey, Long Live Palestine

Manic Street Preachers, A Design for Life

Pulp, Common People

Nina Simone, Mississippi Goddamn

The Specials, Ghost Town

And here's the Plan B video...



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Leaked video footage: Andrew Lansley on the run

Thanks to Eoin Clarke for sharing this. As he writes:

 

'This is a leaked video of Lansley's visit to the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, London, today. I had reported earlier on in the day that there had been an incident at the hospital but no national media outlet would run with the story.  When the Minister for Health runs scared from medical professionals such as the doctor shown in the picture you know that his faith in Tory reforms must be limited indeed, if he cannot have the courage of his convictions to stand and discuss the issues.'

  

Dr Ron Singer, who challenges Lansley here, is a recently retired GP with three decades' experience and President of the Medical Practitioners' Union (part of Unite).

 

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2011 - a bitesize video retrospective

Music, humour, eloquent words, raw emotion, poetry, memorable images... it's all here in my video selection for 2011. Thank you to everyone who filmed and edited these videos.

All videos are under 10 minutes, hence the 'bitesize' in the title. Links are to the blog posts where the video was originally embedded and appear in chronological order. Learn, be inspired, enjoy.

London Vigil for Gaza

Egypt: they are not waiting for our children's dreams to become true

Yemeni women refuse to stay at home

Newcastle uniting to stop racist EDL

Dickens is not just for Christmas

Spain inspires hope of European Spring

Sanasino Al-Yemen at Stop the War conference

Jimmy Cliff at Glastonbury: We don't want another Vietnam

PJ Harvey: The Words That Maketh Murder

Tony Benn: what is true cost of the war in Afghanistan?

Sanum Ghafoor at Counterfire conference

Tom Morello: Occupy LA

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Occupy Newcastle - video report

Website: http://occupynewcastle.org/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/OccupyNewcastle
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Occupy-Newcastle/207646272641075



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Anti War Assembly - video

'This film by the Islam Channel captures the spirit and the inspiration of the Antiwar Assembly in Trafalgar Square on 8 October 2011. It features speeches and interviews with many of the participants, including John Pilger, Julian Assange, Anas alTikriti, Jemima Khan, Seumas Milne and many more. It took place on the tenth anniversary of the war on Afghanistan and the 'war on terror', which have caused so much death, destruction and suffering.'



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'The People Demand: a short history of the Arab revolutions' - video trailer

28 September: London book launch - details HERE

12 October: Newcastle book launch - details HERE

Read an extract and buy the book HERE



Trailer by Elly Badcock

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Sanum Ghafoor at Counterfire conference

Counterfire had its first national conference at the weekend. Clare Solomon chaired a public event on Saturday evening, addressed by a range of Counterfire activists: Lindsey German, Sean Rillo Raczka, Joshua Virasami, Neil Faulkner and Sanum Ghafoor. You can watch video of the other speeches HERE.



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Tony Benn: what is the true cost of the Afghanistan war?

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PJ Harvey: The Words That Maketh Murder

PJ Harvey tonight became the first artist to win the Mercury Prize twice, with her eighth album 'Let England Shake'. The first time she won the prize was on 11 September 2001, in an awards ceremony overshadowed by news of the terrorist attacks in the US. 'Let England Shake' includes this track, 'The Words That Maketh Murder', which was featured in the Stop the War website's 'anti-war song of the week' slot in February. 



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Video: David Starkey echoes Enoch Powell in racist Newsnight rant

David Starkey prompted outrage with last night's appearance on the BBC's flagship programme for giving racists respectability. As Charlie Brooker, mocking Starkey's own comment about David Lammy MP, tweeted: 'If you closed your eyes he sounded like a man staggering shirtless and babbling into traffic'.



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They don't make propaganda like they used to

Watch this to the end - and never trust those pesky communists with your daughter.



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Blame the Muslims: Sanum Ghafoor on Islamophobia and the media

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Video: Gordon Brown attacks Cameron, Murdoch and Yates

Some sceptical caution is necessary, when we recall how subservient New Labour leaders were towards Murdoch for many years. But this is pleasing to see nonetheless....



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What if Rupert Murdoch had never been born?

Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie - long before one was a national treasure and the other a hugely successful actor in US television - imagined a world (or London, anyway) without Murdoch, with a little help from classic film 'It's A Wonderful Life':



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Video: Steve Coogan tears The News of the World a new arsehole

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Jimmy Cliff at Glastonbury: We don't want another Vietnam in Afghanistan

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Sanum Ghafoor on the language of war

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Glenn Beck: Counterfire activist is "the face of evil"

An entertaining video, featuring a number of clips of Joseph Daher from Counterfire - and Glenn Beck's disgust at his anti-imperialism.



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Freedom for Palestine

http://www.freedomoneworld.com/
www.facebook.com/freedomoneworld
www.twitter.com/freedomoneworld

PRE-ORDER NOW FROM ITUNES + HMV DIGITAL
http://www.hmvdigital.com/artist/oneworld/freedom-for-palestine
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/preorder/freedom-for-palestine/id439588627

International musicians release historic UK single Freedom for Palestine. Release 3 July 2011.

Featuring: Maxi Jazz (Faithless), Dave Randall (Slovo/Faithless), LSK, the Durban Gospel Choir, members of the London Community Gospel Choir, Jamie Catto (1 Giant Leap) and international artists from around the world.

Music video features comedian Mark Thomas, rapper Lowkey and poet Michael Rosen.

Song written and produced by Dave Randall.
Video produced by Andy Marlow.
Filming by Alex Forster, Andy Marlow & Henna Malik (UK), Dave Randall (UK & West Bank), Jen Marlowe (Gaza) and Amehlo Video Productions (SA).
Animation by the Moth Collective.

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I Witness: Spanish Revolt

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